The Drabble Files
by HoVis
Summary: Series of drabbles accompanying "In the Quartermaster's Store". Just what did the crewmen and women of the Enterprise spend three years doing? Features a good dose of Malcolm. Please R and R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I've noticed that drabbles are fairly rare in the Enterprise fandom, so I've decided to buck the trend... plus with all the preparation for going to China next week I haven't got time to write any longer chapters!

This drabble series accompanies my longer story "In the Quartermaster's Store", beginning with the character's earliest experiences on _Enterprise_. Cookie to anyone who recognises the situation below!

Please review!! :)

**Disclaimer for all chapters:** The only things I own are the characters in the Quartermaster's Store, all other characters, settings and scientific technobabble belong to Paramount.

**The Drabble Files**

**1) First**

Their first meeting went disregarded by the both of them. Henny was tuning the power conduits on Deck A in preparation of their hurried launch – a job which certainly didn't come under her basic training of how to handle industrial washing machines – when a stern Lieutenant (accompanied by a _very_ pleasant-faced Ensign) had stopped her and suggested she rebalance her polarities for greater haste.

As the Lieutenant strode off with her insincere thanks, he told the Ensign that he had interrupted the young woman in her work in order to impress upon all in the vicinity the alacrity needed to prepare for the suddenly rushed launch.

Henny told herself it was because the Lieutenant was a superior git.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Drabble Files**

**2) Interview**

The ships' Quartermaster had to be brought aboard at quick notice, and so Archer was more than prepared to accept any small quirks which Starfleet's recommended candidate might possess, providing that he or she could sew a straight seam and keep the terrifying cargo bay that was the Store in good order. He was not, however, quite prepared for the black mourning armband, or the burly fellow crewman who seemed to come part and parcel with Quartermaster Miranda Heron.

"Her husband asked me to look after her before he died," the man had stated as he followed her into the private interview in Archer's ready room, apparently thinking that this explained his presence.

Crewman Heron shot her companion a quelling look.

"Yes. You see, we come as something of a package."


	3. Chapter 3

The Drabble Files

**A/N:** Right, off to China in... 5 minutes, so have a happy summer everyone! All stories will be updated ASAP on my return.

**The Drabble Files**

**3) Something Borrowed**

Ryan Tiller isn't entirely sure what to make of his newest subordinate. He is aware that he is a little old-fashioned in his thinking, but still, he thinks it a little too democratic that the powers-that-be decided to place a boy with absolutely no sense of co-ordination (not to mention a terrible haircut) in the ship's workshop. He daren't give Billy the job of spraying the spare bulkheads with the strengthening agent; he might well spray it on himself and turn into metal, like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz. Though perhaps he would make less mess that way.

Billy also seems to be in a state of permanent apprehension, which certainly doesn't help his habit of dropping things. Tiller now makes a point of coughing before he speaks to him, since without the warning countless things would inevitable get broken due to Billy's jump of surprise.

Considering his generally grumpy temperament, it is somewhat surprising that Tiller has yet to speak harshly to the lad, or even put him on report, but the thing – that he will not even admit to dear Miranda – is that the clumsy Crewman with the shock of ginger hair reminds him of himself, in his earliest years, hindering his father in the workshop he ran for the servicing of vintage vehicles. Seeing Billy jump at every sound is like borrowing back a bit of his youth.


	4. Chapter 4

The Drabble Files

**The Drabble Files**

**4) Light**

Annan's father had been an alcoholic and his mother had been a victim of the very last spate of race-related crimes in East London. When she died, Annan shunned the book and trappings which he perceived as having caused her death.

One of his father's last acts before pulling one of disappearance had been to hand him a copy of the Qur'an, the very copy, with its black embossed cover and ancient, inexplicable characters mixing with the English inside, that his mother had once pored over, in the darkness of the night and the heady glow of the morning.

"You might need a bit of light, I thought, out there," said the man who had all his life insisted on using a beer glass to shatter that very glow. He jerked his head vaguely to the sky, patted his son on his shoulder, and then shrunk into the crowd.

Annan put the book to gather impossible dust in the corner of his most private drawer in his new quarters, from where none of its light could escape. It might illuminate his past, and that he did not desire.


	5. Chapter 5

The Drabble Files

**The Drabble Files**

**5)** **Ordinary**

It took Catherine Manning all of twenty-four hours onboard the _Enterprise_ to realise that she was the only halfway-to-normal individual on the Quartermaster's Team. She had never lost either a parent, a spouse or a close friend to violent circumstances (as she quickly learnt that two thirds of the team _had_) and, unlike Billy, was at least capable of carrying something from one end of the bay to another without dropping it on her own feet. By contrast she was positively boring; her parents were both still alive and well, she had no emotional hang-ups or skeletons in her cupboard (things she was sure the pale and silent Annan possessed in spades), and did not, unlike her fellow crewmen, conduct her personal affairs with the aplomb and drama of the twentieth-century soap operas her mother loved so much.

After two weeks onboard and having heard through the grapevine of everything from Ensign Sato's claustrophobia to Commander Tucker's love of bright shirts and ancient horror movies, Catherine came to the conclusion that she was, in fact, the only ordinary person onboard the entire ship.


	6. Chapter 6

The Drabble Files

**The Drabble Files**

**6) Glow**

The very moment Billy met his new bunkmate he knew he was going to cause him problems. They ended up sharing quarters by accident; Billy mistook the deck number he had been allotted and by the time his mistake had been realised he had already unpacked his suitcase, so he ended up staying. He found it deeply ironic that the crewman who took Billy's place in his intended quarters ended up having a deep and loving relationship with the other crewman there.

Billy did not see the book hidden in the drawer, nor did he hear of the scars which Annan Henson's soulful expression concealed. He merely saw the glow, felt the warmth of his oddly smooth fingers as they shook hands, and heard with pleasure the quiet, careful voice.

But Annan recoiled a little too quickly from the handshake, and Billy soon came to understand that to Annan respect for personal space and boundaries were utmost. It was as if the glow was like an invisible barrier, drawing fascinated minions in but repelling them at the last moment.


End file.
